Hot SourceVanessa Obioha
The federal government is rallying private sector support with the unveiling of its new special vehicle project, BRIDGE, aimed at expanding broadband connectivity nationwide.
At a stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, unveiled the project’s blueprint, urging private sector participation in the government’s plan to connect every Nigerian.
“There is no country that operates without the intervention of the private sector,” he said.
According to Tijani, the government will invest 49 per cent in the project, with the private sector covering the remaining share. He stressed that the government will not interfere in its operations.
“The board is independent. The minister is not appointing the management of the SPV. In fact, the deal will be done and decided by the SPV,” he explained.
The minister warned that if local players fail to invest, foreign investors would eventually take on the project. He disclosed that global financial institutions such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have already expressed interest in funding the $2 billion initiative.
BRIDGE, part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is a transformative national infrastructure project that will deploy 90,000km of fibre-optic cable across the country. With Nigeria currently hosting 35,000km of fibre, BRIDGE will expand the national footprint to 125,000km, enabling nationwide connectivity. The network will be wholesale, open-access, and designed to support both large and small internet service providers (ISPs) through core, metropolitan, and middle-mile layers.
The infrastructure will feature seven regional backbone rings covering the six geopolitical zones and 37 metro fibre rings, forming a resilient core with low latency, high capacity, and redundancy for stable digital services. Each of the 774 local government areas will be connected through dedicated Points of Presence (PoPs), with fibre extending from these hubs to thousands of administrative wards, especially targeting schools, healthcare centres, and government facilities to boost last-mile access.
“Our aim is to change this once and for all, so that where you live, where you are born, or where you choose to settle will not determine whether you have access to quality internet or not,” Tijani said. “The World Bank says if you improve the quality of connectivity in any nation by 10%, you will see about a 1.35 to 1.5% increase in GDP.”
Tijani noted that the next phase of the rollout will depend heavily on collaboration with both public and private sector partners.
“As we move forward, we invite feedback, collaboration, and innovation from across the ecosystem. Together, we will bridge the digital divide and build an inclusive, future-ready economy,” he added.
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